the last word

Helping hands International Truck and Engine Corp. and utility equipment maker Altec Industries are joining forces to send 10 commercial trucks to Thailand to help that nation rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the deadly tsunami that struck it and other countries along the Indian Ocean last year. International and Altec are supplying various aerial lift-quipped trucks to help restore power and communication

Helping hands

International Truck and Engine Corp. and utility equipment maker Altec Industries are joining forces to send 10 commercial trucks to Thailand to help that nation rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the deadly tsunami that struck it and other countries along the Indian Ocean last year. International and Altec are supplying various aerial lift-quipped trucks to help restore power and communication lines and aid in cleaning up debris, the companies report, as re-establishing the electrical grid will help provide critical services such as water purification and distribution. The trucks twill reach the country with the assistance of the Thailand International Development Corp. “Our strong, long-standing relationship with International has allowed us to partner in this important rebuilding effort program,” notes Lee Styslinger III, Altec president & CEO.

Bimbo aboard

The 99,999th Workhorse chassis ever produced was built for a bread van operated by Bimbo Bakeries USA. The firm's Mexico-based parent, Grupo Bimbo, is one of the world's largest and took as its name back in 1945 a Spanish contraction of the Italian word for baby, bambino. Shown here by the milestone truck are executives of Workhorse, Union City Body Co. and Bimbo Bakeries USA. By the way, Workhorse reserved the 100,000th chassis for its biggest RV customer, Winnebago Industries.

Sixty candles

This year marks the 60th anniversary of Peterson Manufacturing. Over the past six decades, the Grandview, MO-based firm points out, it has “grown from a small, automotive aftermarket supplier of such items as safety lighting and tire pumps, to a quarter-billion-dollar, multi-faceted corporation serving transportation-related industries around the world. Yet for all that, the family-owned company is something of a “quiet giant,” to use its own term. “We're not exactly high profile,” says president & CEO Don Armacost, Jr., son of the Kansas City businessman who acquired the company from Wilbur Peterson. “My father often said he didn't want to be the biggest in the business, just the best.”

“Our fundamental business philosophy is simple. It doesn't matter what our market share is at the end of the day, but our share of market profitability.”-Tom Gosnell, president, ArvinMeritor Commercial Vehicle Systems

Rolling salute

Once again a special Mack Vision and a custom-painted Volvo VN — produced in tribute to our nation's veterans — took part in the national Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom parade that rolls from the Pentagon parking lot through our nation's capital each Memorial Day weekend. Alongside the distinctive Mack and Volvo tractors, over 630,000 motorcyclists rode in this year's parade to honor those killed in action or still missing in action.